Year 9 Advance Surf Camp

We walked into school to see many smiles on our classmates' faces - everyone was very excited to see their friends.  We sat by our bags ready for Mr Evans to come round the corner with the school bus. When he arrived we tossed our what felt like 30 kilo bags into the trailer. Then we hopped on the bus extremely eager and full of anticipation for what our first camp of our Advance journey would bring us.

Once we made it past the windy ocean road, we arrived at the Lorne Caravan Park. Everyone grabbed their bags from the back of the trailer and found a  place to set up their tents. Once we finished our scramble for pegs and hammers, we grabbed our things for surfing and off we went. We then made our way to the beach, got given our tedious wetsuits, grabbed our board and off to shore we went. Our instructors put us into groups and gave us a short but very informative introduction/lesson to surfing. As we got into the water, it took most of us a couple of nose dives before we got the hang of catching a wave, but I'm sure by the end of it everyone stood up at least once which was great to see. Despite a couple of rogue boards and a few funky ankles everyone loved the surfing, but we were definitely looking forward to a nice hot shower back at camp.

We made it back to camp, filed off the bus and all raced straight to the showers. Once everyone had finished a well deserved shower, we prepared our trangias to cook dinner for the first time. Some meals that we cooked that night were successful and some not so successful but in the end everyone had something to eat. It was now time for our night walk. We all rugged up in warm and somewhat waterproof clothes and set off. We found the start of the path and started on our walk. On our way up there were some jump scares but it gave everyone a good laugh. We made it to the lookout where Mr Evans told some interesting and eerie stories while the sea breeze made us all shiver. We all made it back to the warm bus ready to get some rest to prepare for the next great day ahead.

The next morning we all woke up feeling energetic and ready to start our initiative course. Once we had organised breakfast we quickly got dressed and packed, then back onto the bus. We were split into two groups for the course and went around in our groups to do different activities, each activity taking a lot of logical and collaborative thinking. This course did teach us quite a lot to do with team work as well as touching on our leadership skills. 

Next it was off to Anglesea for our lunch. We had a delicious lunch before we had to hop back on the bus ready for sea kayaking. Once we got there we were again given another tedious wetsuit to squeeze into and then partnered up. We learnt the way to catch a wave and we all gave it a good crack. By the end of the paddling our arms were a bit sore but it was worth it for the few fast waves we caught. Once we hopped out of the water it was time for the much dreaded run swim runs. Everyone put a lot of effort in and once that was completed we made our way back to camp.

Similar to the night before we then cooked dinner on the trangias that were much more successful this time. Once we finished scrubbing our trangias and packing everything away we were headed to the park for a few group games of sardines, 40-40 and tiggy. Then back at camp we brushed our teeth and quickly hopped in bed making as little noise as possible, hoping for no extra run swim runs. 

Next morning we  woke up and got dressed for our last activity of camp, got on the bus and headed to the beach. We placed our towels down and got ready for our run swim runs, fearing the freezing cold water. When we had finished them we eagerly made our way back for yet another shower and sadly packed up all of our belongings and grabbed our tents. Once we put our bags into the trailer we got back on the bus for the bus ride home from a camp that has left us with fantastic memories and many greatly enjoyed experiences. 

Thanks to Miss Collyer and Miss Cameron for coming along and Mr Evans for organising the camp. 

Mia Carmona and Isabelle Vicendese

Year 9 Advance